A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY
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| Volume 6 Number 32 - Tuesday, August 10th, 2004 |
A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY |
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The Orthodox Christian News Service |
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Orthodox church against Jehovah's Witnesses and Krishna society
RELIGIOUS POLITICAL WARS: POSITION OF RPTs (Polit.ru, 5 July 2004) - "Polit.ru" has managed to get an interview with Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad Kirill, the chairman of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow patriarchate, regarding the religious political conflicts of April of this year. At that time the judicial decision in the case of the "Jehovah's Witnesses" organization was rendered and opposition to the construction of a Center of Vedic Culture and a temple of Krishna was expressed. Despite all the differences, these stories had something in common: in both cases the greatest activity was shown by public organizations calling themselves Orthodox. At the time we published interviews with Krishnaites, "Witnesses," and "Orthodox activists." But the official position of the Russian Orthodox church we are able to present to readers only now, when one of the most notable of its hierarchs, Metropolitan Kirill, found time to answer our questions. --What is the position of the Russian church with regard to the actions of Orthodox believers who organized a demonstration on Pushkin Square against the construction of a Center of Vedic Culture and temple of Krishna in Moscow? --The Russian Orthodox church shares the concern of Orthodox believers, as well as Muslims, Jews, and Buddhists, who speak out against the construction near the center of Moscow, on a plot of land of more than one hectare, the largest center of this newly formed religion in Europe. Religious leaders representing traditional religions of Russia have spoken out unequivocally against plans to construct in the district of Khodynsk Field a Krishnaite complex with a 16-story building that exceeds in area the church of Christ the Savior, and also against the "charity" programs of the Society of Krishna Consciousness, which actually are either an explicit form of proselytism or a covert practice of "giving communion" to unsuspecting Russians with sacrificial Krishnaite food. The Russian church viewed with satisfaction the statement by M.A. Men, in the name of the Moscow authorities, supporting the position of the Interreligious Council of Russia on the question of the planned construction on Khodynsk Field of the so-called Center of Vedic Culture, with its gigantic dimensions that in no way correspond to the proportion of this confession in the life of the city and the country. One of the journalists produced the calculation according to which the Krishnaits society, on the basis of its numerical size, and the existing proportions of churches provided for Orthodox Muscovites, would be supposed to get, instead of a hectare of truly golden capital land, premises the size of about ten square meters. It is worthy of amazement that it is this exotic Krishnaite organization that demands for itself and gets such substantial and quite undeserved privileges, on which it has no right to count, if one proceeds from the letter of existing legislation. At the same time several religious organizations that are traditional for our country, for example, Buddhist societies, still do not have the possibility of resolving the problems of construction of a modest temple in Moscow. --How can the Russian Orthodox church comment on the judicial decision in the case of the "Jehovah's Witnesses" organization? --The sect of Jehovists is one of the most active pseudo-Christian movements in contemporary Russia. Complaints of our fellow citizens who have been victims of its activities arrive from all over the country. Jehovists really do incite religious strife, and they commit insulting attacks on Orthodox Christians and representatives of other traditional religions of Russia. The antihuman rules adopted in this sect, for example, the prohibition on blood transfusion, often cause people's death, including children. This is by far not the first case where the Russian judicial authorities have had to rise to the defense of the spiritual and physical health of citizens and to counteract their being drawn into the activity of various pseudoreligious movements. For example, quite recently the Supreme Court of Russia left in force the decision of the Supreme Court of Bashkiria that imposed in February a prohibition on the activity of the "Center of Dianetics" organization (the church of Scientology). In supporting the indictment, Bashkir Prosecutor Florid Baikov noted during the trial that this center, which did not have the obligatory license, conducts broad educational and medical activity which "has a negative effect on the thinking and psychology of its adepts" and "represents a threat to the health of people." The "Center of Dianetics" organization operated in Bashkiria from 1994. According to the prosecutor's information, in that time more than 2,000 persons passed through its classes. Both the trial of the case of the Jehovists and the case of Scientologists are only separate, isolated episodes in the struggle of the state for its own citizens who have been caught in the snares of foreign preachers. However these trials, which had great public resonance, do not even in the least reflect the magnitude of the activity of pseudoreligious movements in contemporary Russia. It is this that represents the very specific position of the Russian Orthodox church that was stated on 27 May 2004 in the State Duma of the Russian federation at parliamentary hearings on the topic of "Improving legislation on freedom of conscience and religious organizations: practice of implementation, and problems and means for their resolution." In particular, we stressed that today substantive changes in the existing law on freedom of conscience and religious associations are not an urgent task. In particular this includes the maintenance of the currently existing rule about a fifteen-year period of existence in Russian legal space as a condition for registration of a religious group as a legal entity. Our church also has spoken out against attempts to remove any restrictions on inviting foreign workers by religious organizations. --Does the Russian Orthodox church consider the "Society of Krishna Consciousness" and "Jehovah's Witnesses" totalitarian sects? Why? --The terms "totalitarian sect" and "destructive sect" have not received general recognition among jurists and theologians, although their widespread use by the public with regard to a whole number of organizations seems quite deserved and justified. The bishops' council of the Russian Orthodox church held in December 1994 designated "Jehovah's Witnesses" and the "International Society of Krishna Consciousness" as constituting a false Christian and pseudoreligious organization. The bases for this decision were the distinctive doctrines and practices of these two sects, which have no features that correspond to traditional religious organizations, as well as the destructive consequences caused by their activity, particularly their aggressive proselytism. (tr. by PDS, posted 1 August 2004)
Posted on Portal-credo.ru site, 2 August 2004 |
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